


The Right Hand Path

by Skeren



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Human Experimentation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-07
Packaged: 2018-05-18 23:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5947618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeren/pseuds/Skeren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a universe in which Sephiroth was jarred back into his clone too early, and was taken with Zack and Cloud when they broke out, before Cloud ended up in a mako coma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pre-empt

**Author's Note:**

> Written from 2006 to 2008. Well, the first five chapters anyway.

_Nothing, just cast away. Nothing, so sweep a hand. Nothing, try and try. Nothing, nothing had. Nothing, nothing…_

Something.

There was something. Edging his perception, touching him from the outside, needed on the outside… and he didn’t understand it. Failure and consequence. Fate having taken another turn. Quiet into loud, abuse into sufferance. Then there was air, the burn and fire of light that went unfiltered, the chill that meant pain. It was there, and he didn’t want. Send him back into the fire than the cold, because he _did not want_.

What he wanted didn’t matter.

Hands on the floor, he shuddered, long hair sticking to his back as he coughed out the fluid he’d been suspended in. He didn’t know for how long this time. It was always different. A day here, a week there, a few hours another time. He shuddered and pressed his forehead against his knees. He’d only be given a few seconds before someone came to fetch him. 

There was a point when he was younger that he would have attacked given such a chance. 

By now he knew better. He wasn’t supposed to exist beyond a body.

Warm hands, dry hands, and then he was pulled to his feet, weakness from the liquid fire making his limbs tremble, but he was still pulled over the ledge, directed deeper into the gloom that would soon turn too bright. 

The cloth pulled around his frame was confusing. He’d never been dressed before. It wasn’t part of his existence.

He had vague memories of a before, they came and went, incomplete and without any real meaning. Not at first. A sword through the air, long hair like his own, black smooth material. But it felt the same. The same emptiness, the same feel of being nothing but a tool. There were glimpses of looking up and falling, and they were confusing. Something tossed away before liquid ice encompassed. Something that was precious not moments before but was suddenly vile.

Flickers, insubstantial, nothing worth anything. A sensation of soon before. Before had always been here, but apparently it was there as well.

More warm hands, a familiar voice that he’d never heard before. Confusing, so confusing. How could something be familiar when he’d never heard it before? It had to be something from the flickers of him who was never him, he who is not himself, who had done things he had never lived through.

He wasn’t complete yet. The flickers were still just vivid dreams. Not real. Why would he want any of that to be real? 

He wasn’t being led the direction he was used to being led. No more training? No more careful instructions?

Another flash of familiar when the warm hands brushed his long hair out of his eyes, and he blinked, finally trying to focus enough to figure out what was going on. It wasn’t worth it usually, instead just sliding into pain and tests and more tests.

But… this was different. He was led by something… someone, he never thought of them as someones, just the doctors… but the memories, the flashes of things he never did, prompted him to do otherwise. They said this one wasn’t like the others, that he needed to come aware for this one. 

He didn’t want to. That meant embracing the memories, and so so many of them hurt. So much blood in them. 

He was distracted by another, the same warmth, but smaller hands, a sense of there that wasn’t in the other, the one that the shards were making him take notice of. They were talking. They were talking in low hushed tones. Afraid. It took him another moment to realize that they were afraid, longer than it should have, and that they were ducking and dodging, like escape. 

Escape from where? His head was starting to hurt. It was too soon for awareness, and something wanted to push him back, keep him unaware until it was time… but time for what? It wasn’t a good sensation. He was older in the memories, he knew that. His hands were too small to hold the blade that they had him holding, not by much, but he got a sense that he was still off. Still incorrect, unfinished.

That had to be why the she-voice didn’t like the way he was coming aware, the way the shards were finally starting to swirl and click into place as he was led by the hand, tugged out of sight to avoid being seen when steps were heard. 

Then, without warning, he understood them.

“If we hadn’t been distracted we would have been caught.” It was the smaller, the one who kept leading him around. He knew that voice too.

“I know. I know and I’m glad. And it looks like the kid here’s been here longer than we have.” It was the first, the one who kept petting his hair. It was dry, the green fire already dealt with, leaving just the pale strands that wouldn’t stay out of his face.

“Had to be longer. You know Sephiroth’s dead Zack, I made sure.” Quieter, and he felt himself be tugged closer to the smaller of the pair before they were moving again.

He should have been taller than them both, and was taller than neither. More dodging, more weaving, no conversation, but memories were locking into place, things he’d never done were like a faded mosaic all around him that was finally making sense. The blast of chill air from outside didn’t make him shiver, but the one with the larger hands, Zack, pulled him off his feet at that point.

They were outside. 

He hadn’t been outside since he’d been created, the memories of things he hadn’t done had started just a year or two ago, he couldn’t tell, found time difficult to get a grip on, but the memories were his only remembrance of the out of doors. It was clearing, his mind, and as they moved through brush and forest he tucked himself close against the man’s chest.

Zack, his name was Zack. Laughing, smiles, warmth, there, always there. The other was Cloud. Quiet, watchful, lurking, wary, hurting before this, but worse now. Never had a sense of him before, and that was something off…

The whispers weren’t welcome, edging the memories that he’d found first, tossed away and unwelcome they’d come first, of falling falling and such horrible terrible whispers… But they stopped. A growl from Cloud and they stopped from filtering past the memories… and that was… odd.

“Do you think he even has a name?” They were still moving, the tones low and mostly heard due to proximity as they finally broke the line of trees, hitting an area where there were vehicles. Something told him that they likely belonged to those inside...

“I don’t know. I didn’t have time to grab any files.” Another flurry of movement, and a motorbike was quickly confiscated. It seemed that Zack had at least noticed he was more aware, though he shifted him back so he was between him and Cloud. “He looks just like Seph though, it’s almost creepy.”

“Like anything in there wasn’t? I heard what they were going to do Zack…”

“I know. I know and we’re out, it’s not going to happen. We’ll figure out what to do with the kid once we’re somewhere safe.” More movement, and he pressed his cheek between the shoulder blades in front of him. He’d figured out that they’d gotten him into too large pants and a shirt. 

They both fell silent then, the roar of the bike too much to talk over, and apparently neither was trying. There were other things though, shouting and the sound of bullets cracking the silence that made him realize that it wasn’t just a blade the two were armed with, Cloud had gotten a gun somewhere and was returning fire around deflecting. 

He’d never thought that Cloud even knew how to use a gun. He should have, he had been in the advanced corps. 

The thoughts made him blink, and he realized suddenly that the shards were settled, almost seamlessly woven with the undeterminable timeframe that he’d been suspended with barely a consciousness. And that was him. But no time to think about being him yet. Instead, he snapped his attention to keeping out of the way, not upsetting the balance of the bike or getting in the way of combat. He was unarmed, he’d only hinder. 

It felt like an eternity before the sounds of battle finally stopped, and the bike was reigned around where no one was. They were both silent for a long moment, obviously waiting, checking, making sure there wasn’t going to be a resurgence of violence.

Then Zack twisted around and looked at him, tipping his face up to look at his eyes. “Hey there. You with us, or were you just reacting to what was going on?”

Talking was difficult. This form had never done it, had been expected silence, so his voice was scratchy, low. “I’m here.”

He felt Cloud lean into his back, and could almost feel the questioning look that was being directed to the black haired man that he was being studied by. He wasn’t sure what to do with the intimacy of the feeling. Zack was talking again though, so he didn’t get to ask if the sensation went both ways. “Well, that’s kinda reassuring.” 

He was combing through his hair again. It felt odd. “Why are you doing that?”

He just got a headshake in reply, and he was ever so tempted to bite his fingers. Something must have shown on his face because the fingers faltered a moment. “Just trying to get over your resemblance is all kid, don’t worry about it.” 

Cloud was looking around, making sure that the pursuit hadn’t caught up to them yet. He didn’t think it was a very good idea to be doing this now, but Zack always had been foolish.

“It’s not a resemblance.”

Stilled fingers. Apparently that reply hadn’t been expected. “What?”

Quiet, steady words as he met violet eyes. “It’s not a resemblance. I am who I look like I am.” 

The cursing from behind him wasn’t really expected, and he sent a startled look back to meet wide blue eyes. “I saw you die, and you were a lot older than you are now.”

Ah, that would be why. “I know. I don’t think I was supposed to be aware for a few more years.”

And then Zack was getting him to look forward again, studying his eyes, keeping him still. He nodded, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead before twisting to kick the bike back into life. “If you’re really Seph, then at least you aren’t insane anymore.”

The actions and soft words were a cue, and it was only a moment before they were mobile again. The meaning was clear. They’d discuss this development once they were somewhere safe, until then it could wait.


	2. Stones

He should have realized that it wouldn’t be easy. There was an intense morbid fascination in Zack’s eyes, and it had been there since they’d hidden away in the old building. There was no easy answer to the question of ‘why?’ and yet they were waiting for an explanation. The expectant silence was heavy, and he forced himself to be still, to not curl up, as he wanted to. It had to be the body, the other, hazier memories, which led to the impulse.

“It’s not easy to explain.” The words fell dead into the air, but he had really expected nothing else. He’d nearly killed them both, was honestly not certain how they’d survived him. If nothing else, it showed that he was a wise choice in his subordinates.

“Try.” It was Cloud that spoke, not Zack. Zack seemed nearly frozen in place, intent, bowstring tight with tension. Cloud was just waiting, the look of him resigned, nothing more.

“At the time, it was what needed to be done.” There was an insincere quality in that statement, even in its truth, and the taste of it left ashes in his mouth. “I was influenced, and it seemed the correct path to take. If you two hadn’t come to me, I wouldn’t have attacked you.”

“Right. Just a town, then what? What else were you going to do once you left the reactor? Did you have plans for that too?” He fisted his hands as he heard the tone in Zack’s voice, didn’t like that he’d put it there, but he really saw no way that any of it could have gone differently. They’d all survived the encounter in one fashion or another, so it was really quite enough for him.

“Then nothing. The plans never went far.” He curled his lips, just the slightest bit in a shadowed smile. “It was a matter of… waiting for the other turn. It makes little sense to me now.”

“But it still makes some.”

“Yes.”

They all fell into silence, and the chill was almost tangible. It was unexpected for Cloud to be the first to move, as he was always the most timid of the pair. Perhaps the time in the labs hadn’t been all pain for them. “I can feel you.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

“That… I don’t. I apologize.” He had to tip his head back to look at the blond, as he was sitting in contrast to the man standing next to him. The blue eyes didn’t seem satisfied with his answer.

“Are you really him?” They were almost nose to nose at this point. He had no idea what the blond was trying to achieve, but he didn’t like it. He held carefully still. “Are you the man I threw into the lifestream?”

“Mostly.” The answer was softer, then the unwelcome feeling eased, the blond retreating a moment later to his corner of the room. He knew that the blond wasn’t finished with what he wanted to know, but with luck, he would wait until he had perhaps come up with some sort of answer for him. 

There was another extended silence.

“You said mostly.” It was Zack this time; his voice quiet as it broke into the stillness. Instead of answering the man verbally, he simply nodded. “How mostly?”

“I have the memories.”

The reaction wasn’t a surprise, but how far into the conversation he got before it happened was. He would have expected it to be longer before he snapped. Forcing his reflexes not to kick in as he suddenly ended up with an intense violet stare not even a few inches away and his back to the mattress, he waited. Perhaps that wording hadn’t been the best. “What do you remember?”

It wasn’t the tone the actions had led him to expect, so it was understandable that he went a bit wide-eyed. Why was he pleading with him? He didn’t need to do that, and he could see no relevant cause for it. “I’m certain I remember just about everything.”

“How?” The closeness was starting to unnerve him, so he moved his hands and started to nudge Zack firmly backwards. He wasn’t weak, not even when he’d been this young had he been weak. They’d sent him off to war around this age after all. He remembered growing into his blade.

“There aren’t gaps.” He was glad the man didn’t press the proximity issue once he pushed him out of range, even if he was watching him more intensely than he really cared for. He used the chance to get himself back into a sitting position again, this time with his back to the headboard. 

“How do you know?” Zack wasn’t coming closer, but he looked like he wanted to. He gave in to the urge to curl his legs up to his chest, and apparently the defensive gesture was enough to make the dark haired man back down. His voice got softer. “What makes you sure that nothing is missing?”

“I just know Zack. Just because I look like a teenager doesn’t mean I don’t remember everything leading up to age twenty-five. I’d ask you to trust me, but we all know how badly that would go, don’t we?” 

“Yeah, yeah we do.”


	3. Running

From the point of the questioning session on, it seemed that some precedent had been set. He’d be armed if they were attacked, but otherwise, Cloud ended up with charge over his blade. He himself was in left with the Restore, Heal, and Barrier that they’d come across in the last few months. Defense and healing alone while they both made sure to keep an eye on him, to watch him for signs of instability. The blond occasionally showed that growling glare of his when the whispers flared up.

At times they grew loud enough in his sleep that they woke him, bringing him alert and looking frantically around for the source of the dialogue even as he struggled not to move so quickly that he woke the other two. It almost always woke Cloud anyway, but he still tried. 

It would do him no good to regain their trust simply to turn on them again. 

If nothing else, if he were to listen again, he wanted to know that he’d bring them with him. He could see that as the largest flaw of the prior game that he’d been the piece for. He’d been alone. It had made him vulnerable and had doomed him even as he’d lit the first fire.

For now, though, it was of no consequence. 

They had kept on the move, something that had led to far too much thought since cities were something unsafe for them all. Conversations had started stilted, and had moved on to uneven, only to finally turn into Zack talking just to fill the heavy silence. 

He’d shorn his hair short so he wouldn’t be recognized immediately by those who had seen him before. 

Zack had been stunned, and he still wasn’t certain if he’d been touched over his foresight, angry that he’d dare do such a thing, or if it had been perhaps both, over his actions. He’d gone on at length about how that hadn’t been necessary. He’d stopped when Cloud had sided with the smallest of them, pointing out quietly that the banner of hair was known to be the Silver General’s. 

Even with years behind them, they were still caught under the weight of his title. One lone city hadn’t been enough to crush the reputation. On finding evidence that a SOLDIER had destroyed it, there had been no concerned ear given to the survivors. No, they’d been written off as a city of rebels and Shinra had, in turn, tightened its grip on the world. Thus, most cities were lost to them.

That was why he was staring up at a starred sky, the night in the pitch black that only comes from the moonless dark. The trees had never looked more unfriendly. 

He’d woken to the whispers again, this time not bringing the blond to alert. Either he was more deeply asleep than usual, or the She-voice had finally realized that a sneakier approach would be needed. In light of how quickly she’d quieted when he became fully alert, he’d vouch for the second of the options. Not that he had been asked. 

He folded his hands in front of his bent legs, head tipped back so his short hair didn’t get in his way as he stared upwards. It was amazingly spiky. His bangs had apparently been some indication that only the weight of the mass kept it tame. It made him look more like the other two, and he wasn’t certain how to take that. 

He wasn’t certain how to take anything, but he refused to let the She-voice make him go on alone again. No, this time if he started the game, he would have pieces of his own as well. 

First, though, he’d learn how to get their trust again.


	4. Awareness

It had been calmer between them recently. 

Caution had led to delays, and hair dye had been attempted upon him and deemed a lost cause. He hadn't been asked his opinion about the prospective colors they had attempted to give him, and thankfully the dyes hadn't fully clung to his hair. The almost purple tinge was regrettable, but better than the other possibilities.

None of the experimenting had made it easier for them to get into cities unnoted.

Glowing eyes could be hidden by glasses, clothing under coats, and some weapons that they had between them could be tucked away. They themselves remained distinctive, and trying to be mysterious tended to make their group more memorable than not, as the sheer presence of them was unfortunately hard to dampen.

He still hadn't gotten his rights to a permanent weapon back. But, that was fine. Careful testing had started to reveal to him what sorts of oddities lay between him and Strife now. They hadn't been there before, had never been with Zack at all, so they left him curious, just as they had left the blond. Thus, the anger of the other when he had at first not known the answer.

At that time he simply… had not realized that their something was something that they could do anything about. While still true, it firmed, that vague sense turning into a keyed vibration against his perception, and the better he became in being aware of it, the more he slowly became aware of others. 

He hadn't realized there would be others, nor that he could press on those cords and bring or deny awareness to himself. Cautious testing, just as he'd done with the persistence of the softly whispering burble in his mind, let him determine that unlike that voice, these would not be picked up by the blond. 

He made a point of it to not let the blond know, for this, likely, would be an instance of lost trust, the gap widening instead of closing should they know about the fact that he could so intensely influence others he might never have seen nor met. Strife would be yet more suspicious of their interactions and his silences, and that would draw no benefit at all, not when he wasn't trying to experiment with what the two of them had in respect to each other. No, he only experimented with the contact that he had with those unknown others.

Using it, he brushed at those of the city they were considering, those that seemed closest on the pale strings in his mind, and decided to be more bold than he usually was, giving them the impression that they wanted to keep Shinra people distracted. He had never attempted anything that didn't have to do with himself directly, and he had certainly never been present to watch results, should any results truly happen. This was going to be its own sort of new attempt. Still, it was just an attempt, and he did have the present circumstances to focus on as well.

Thus, of course, Zack had to be talking to him when he finally turned his attention back to his surroundings again, Strife watching him with too studying eyes as the dark haired man outlined his projected course of action for going in. He didn't ask for the man to repeat, instead playing back to himself what he had heard but not registered before, and he nodded to show he agreed once he determined the question that had been directed at him.

They wouldn't, of course, leave him alone. Between the three of them, he knew he was as much their prisoner as an ally until he finally managed to prove himself, something that seemed to be coming more quickly with Zack than the blond would permit him. Thus, caution.

Having determined everyone amenable to his plot to that point, violet eyes turned to the city that lay north of them. "Now, Spike and you can go through one of the lower gates. You two got enough of that same air about you that they might take you as brothers, while I can circle the city a bit myself to come in a different way. We can meet up towards the middle, off the square? That way we can see about the possibility of sticking it out here for a few weeks, get supplies and some real rest. Sound good? Compliments, complaints?"

The blond leaned in a little to study Zack's face before nodding and taking out his sunglasses, settling them low on his nose. "Time to go Sephiroth."

He sighed, but met violet eyes before nodding and getting to his feet, glasses, of the color tinted normal variety, being nudged up his nose. They had no magnification, but people seemed less likely to take a second glance to see his odd eyes or the glow while he wore them than without. Oddly, it tended to be taken as distortion, though he, personally, doubted he would have so easily missed such cues. "We will be seeing you in the city then."

Something in his tone made the man pause, but he was gratified when there was no askance of explanation. "Yeah, see you then guys."

With a small wave between the black haired man and blond, the group parted ways, him following on Strife's heels as the blond handed back his weapon, while Zack turned to head in another direction entirely. 

They always took on cities as though it was a combat situation. Hopefully, this time, there would be no trouble as there had been on one or two occasions prior. 

Not if his experiment went as hoped at least.


	5. Collections

When they reached the edge of the settlement there were voices, the murmur of a crowd, the scents of too many people in too small a space. It was more city than town, more civilized than not, and he could only think that he needed to pay attention. He wanted to touch the cords, test if they were doing as he wished, but that would be far from wise as things stood.

Cloud was watching him again, the look that implied he knew that he was doing something and wanted him to explain, but not now, and not here. The look vaguely made him regret his lost height, though he knew that eventually he would hit the growth spurt again that had given it to him previously. The lack made people so much more dismissive of the fact that when Cloud grabbed his wrist and pulled him along he didn't exactly go willingly for the first half second. The rest of it was taken care of by their appearances. 

Whatever else Zack was and ever had been, he wasn't unobservant, and it was disconcerting to realize that the locals did take him and Cloud as siblings. The murmurs of a few of the elderly they passed, at least, implied as much, one person commenting on the foolishness of youth and questioning his choice of hair. Others agreed, and there was at least one among the faceless lot that seemed to wish them quickly out of her city. 

In all, however, they made it to where Zack had wanted them to meet unhindered. It wasn't the best section of the town, but it was secluded, not the sort of place to immediately draw the eye if not empty. It also wasn't, apparently, the sort of place where anyone cared in the least of what happened, and it was genuine startlement that widened his eyes as Cloud pushed him abruptly against a wall out of direct view of the street.

"What have you been doing Sephiroth?" The words weren't angry, but they were low, demanding, and when he met the eyes, he had a brief beat where he wondered if the blond had really not noticed his experimenting. The feeling passed quickly, but he knew he would have to be careful in the future. He'd been caught this once.

"Cloud."

"The truth."

He shivered a little, not sure what he'd intended to say, but he didn't try to capture the thought, just peering at the blond from the close proximity, feeling the muscled body holding, though not pinning, him in place. He wasn't at all certain what was going on. "You aren't the only one I feel anymore."

"I know. That doesn't tell me what you _did_ Sephiroth."

"I tried to make a distraction." Their eyes locked, the blond frowning slightly as blue studied green, a pull of that still not quite comfortable intimacy sliding along his mind. He was braced for his answer to have consequences, demands, something. 

"Don't tell Zack."

But it didn't come. He didn't press at all, just watched him, waiting for a reply to his order. He hadn't expected the reaction, hadn't even considered that the blond would grasp the practicality of this particular attempt. "I won't."

Then there was a nod, and he found himself catching his feet as he was abruptly released, left to attempt understanding as to what just happened. He didn't know what it meant for him, but it was important. Very important. 

He would have to uncover the meaning soon. First, however, he had to catch up to the blond striding away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the previously posted and written chapters, but I've always wanted to continue this one, so you might yet see more of it. I'll change the chapter numbers to unknown if I do.


End file.
